Maybe the reason why the Civil War analogy seems so apt is that the concept of late night show-biz-style chat shows is so old. Much like the 6:30 PM network news, these formats are well over a half century old — and are increasingly showing their age in the days of the Internet. Johnny isn’t marching home from this war — and neither are Steve Allen and Dick Cavett.

Related: From the days when Conan was merely cannon fodder in the late-night wars. As Tom McMahon writes, click here “to see a wonderfully surreal out-of-sync video like those old Godzilla films you used to see on TV as a kid” of one of O’Brien’s first appearances on NBC. He plays the doorman at Saturday Night Live’s posh, exclusive “Five Timers’ Club.”